1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cable and conduit benders and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of hand-operated conduit and cable benders are disclosed in the prior art. In U.S. Pat. No. 475,261, Winton discloses a trolley wire bender having spaced cable shoes and a bending member rotated about a pivot axis between the shoes in order to effect bending. Safranski, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,709,382, teaches a portable tube bender having two levers pivoted on a common axis, one of the levers including an outer shoe which moves around the periphery of a grooved wheel fixed to the other lever, to cause bending of tubing fitted across that periphery.
Another variety of tube and cable benders employs a fixed lever having a curved mandrel at one end. Another lever having a bending shoe opposing the mandrel is rotatably joined to the fixed lever, with the workpiece extending across the periphery of the mandrel in between the two levers. Bending is effected by rotating the second lever toward the first, causing the bending shoe to bend the workpiece around the periphery of the mandrel. Examples of this type of device are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents: No. 3,750,447 to Kowal et al; No. 3,051,218 to Franck; No. 3,194,038 to Small et al; No. 2,908,193 to Gryniewicc; No. 3,685,335 to Kowal; and No. 3,380,283 to Wilson et al.
Other prior art references of interest include the following U.S. Patents: No. 3,662,580 to Power; No. 1,868,852 to Schneider; No. 1,794,689 to Holsclaw et al; and No. 1,075,837 to Malo et al.